Skills

Quick review of Day 1. Answer without looking: What did Jesus preach above all? (The coming of the Kingdom of God.) Is the Kingdom a place on a map? (No, it is God's saving reign, begun in Christ, growing in hearts.) Then pray together the Our Father slowly, noticing the words 'thy Kingdom come.'

Today we finish the eight parts of speech. A PREPOSITION shows the relationship of a noun or pronoun (its 'object') to another word, usually in space, time, or logic: in, on, under, before, after, with, between, through, of. A preposition plus its object forms a prepositional phrase: 'the temple on the hill,' 'after the battle.' (Tip: a preposition is almost anything a squirrel can do to a tree, run UP, AROUND, THROUGH, PAST it.) A CONJUNCTION joins words, phrases, or clauses. Coordinating conjunctions join equals, the seven FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Subordinating conjunctions (because, although, when, if, since) join a dependent clause to a main one. An INTERJECTION is a word that expresses sudden feeling and stands apart: 'Alas! the city has fallen.' 'Hurrah!'

Worked example 1: 'Alexander marched through Persia and into Egypt, but he longed for India.' (through, into = prepositions; and, but = coordinating conjunctions.) Worked example 2: 'Because the strait was narrow, the Greek ships won. Wow, what a victory!' (Because = subordinating conjunction; Wow = interjection.)

Practice (label the underlined-type words by writing them and their part of speech): 1. The philosopher walked beside the river and spoke softly. 2. Socrates stayed in Athens although he could have fled. 3. Oh! The Persians are crossing the bridge. 4. Find the prepositional phrase: 'The Parthenon stands above the city.' 5. Write your own sentence using one preposition, one conjunction, and one interjection.

In just over a decade, Alexander the Great led his Macedonian and Greek army on one of history's most astonishing campaigns, from Greece all the way to the edge of India, never losing a major battle. Today you will map that reach. Start from Macedonia and Greece in the west. Trace his path: across the Hellespont into Asia Minor (modern Turkey), down through the Levant into Egypt (where he founded Alexandria, his greatest city, at the mouth of the Nile), then east to crush the Persian Empire at Gaugamela, capturing Babylon and Persepolis. From there he pushed across Persia and into Central Asia, finally reaching the Indus River in India before his weary troops refused to go farther. Drawing task: sketch the broad outline of the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. Shade the extent of Alexander's empire from Greece/Macedonia in the west to the Indus River in the east. Mark and label these places: Macedonia, Greece, the Hellespont, Egypt with Alexandria, Babylon, Persepolis, and the Indus River. Draw an arrow showing the general west-to-east direction of his march. Note: after his death the empire split among his generals into the great Hellenistic kingdoms.

Add 'preposition' and 'Hellenistic' to your glossary. Write one sentence about Alexander's empire that uses at least one prepositional phrase and one conjunction.